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–+ servings

Simmered Miso Mackerel (Saba no Misoni)

Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time25 minutes
Author Yuto Omura
Servings 3 portions

Ingredients 
 

  • 3-4 mackerel fillets about 300 to 400g total, un-cured only, fresh or frozen
  • salt for sprinkling
  • freshly boiled water for the shimofuri blanch
  • ice water to shock the blanched fish

Broth

  • 150 ml water
  • 150 ml sake
  • 2 tbsp mirin
  • 1 tbsp sugar dial down toward 1 tsp if your miso blend leans sweet or low-salt
  • 1 tsp rice vinegar or other mild vinegar
  • 20 g ginger root sliced

Miso sauce

To finish

Instructions 

  • Sprinkle 3-4 mackerel fillets with an even sprinkling of salt and rest for 10-15 minutes. When they have about 5 minutes left, boil some water and prepare a bowl of ice water.
    salted mackerel fillets in a metal container
  • After they've finished resting, use kitchen paper to blot the surface of the mackerel, then make two shallow incisions across the skin side. Be careful not to cut too deep.
    Three mackerel fillets on a wooden cutting board with vertical incisions made across them with a knife
  • Place the fillets in a heatproof bowl, and pour the freshly boiled water over the top.
    Three mackerel fillets in a glass bowl with boiling water being poured over them.
  • Immediately transfer them to the bowl of ice water and gently rub the surface to clean them. Then take them out and pat them dry with kitchen paper once more.
    Three mackerel fillets in a glass bowl filled with ice water.
  • Take a pan just about big enough to fit the fillets, and add 150 ml water, 150 ml sake, 2 tbsp mirin, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp rice vinegar, and 20 g ginger root (sliced). Bring to a simmer over medium heat.
    Sliced ginger root simmering in cooking liquid for Saba no Miso ni (Japanese miso simmered mackerel)
  • Lower the heat and gently place the fillets in the pan with the skin-side facing up. Baste the top with the hot liquid for 1-2 minutes.
    Basting the top of mackerel fillets with cooking liquid from the pan.
  • Cover with a drop lid, and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
    Simmering mackerel fillets in a pan covered with foil.
  • In a small bowl, whisk two-thirds of the miso paste with 2 tsp Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu) to thin it out. Once smooth, lift the drop lid and add 50 g Japanese leek (naganegi), 6 shishito peppers along with the thinned miso sauce.
    Pouring miso mixture into pan with mackerel fillets.
  • Spoon the broth over the fish occasionally and continue to cook until the liquid has reduced by half. If the fish is cooked through, transfer it to a plate to avoid overcooking.
    A wooden spoon with broth hovering over miso simmered mackerel in a pan (with shishito peppers and Japanese leek pieces)
  • Once the sauce has reduced, turn off the heat. Loosen the last third of the miso with a little broth, then stir it into the reduced sauce.
    Adding miso to miso simmered mackerel broth in a pan.
  • Place the fillets back into the warm pan and gently move them around in the sauce until evenly covered.
    Mackerel fillets simmered in broth to make miso simmered mackerel (saba no miso-ni)
  • Divide the fillets and vegetables between serving plates. Spoon the thickened sauce over the top and julienne a piece of ginger for decoration. Enjoy!
    Miso simmered mackerel (Saba no Miso-ni) on an off-white plate served with Japanese leek and shishito peppers, topped with julienned ginger root.

Notes

Pull the fish at about 10 minutes: Mackerel turns from tender to dry and tight fast, and overcooked fish cannot be walked back. Once it has had its short simmer, get it out of the harsh heat.
Reduce the sauce until it clings: A thin, watery sauce sliding off the fish is a half-finished dish. Let the liquid come down until it thinly coats the back of a spoon, glossy and dark.
If the sauce lags, pull the fish out: Worried the fish will overcook while the liquid is still thin? Lift the fillets out, finish reducing the sauce alone, then spoon it back over at the end.
Do not go all-in on sweet white miso: White alone drops the salt out and tips the dish too sweet. If you have white and red, mix it half and half to bring back the balance.
Do not skip the blanch or the ginger: The hot-water shimofuri and sliced ginger are the 2 moves that decide whether the dish tastes clean. Skip either and the fishiness has nowhere to hide.
Foil works just as well as a drop-lid: No need to track down a wooden otoshibuta. A sheet of foil with a few holes poked in sits on the fish, bastes it evenly, and holds the delicate flesh still.